Typing indicators

Typing indicators are sent to the chat channel while a run is active. Use

to control when typing starts and to control how often it refreshes.

Defaults

When

is unset, OpenClaw keeps the legacy behavior:

• Direct chats: typing starts immediately once the model loop begins.
• Group chats with a mention: typing starts immediately.
• Group chats without a mention: typing starts only when message text begins streaming.
• Heartbeat runs: typing starts when the heartbeat run begins if the resolved heartbeat target is a typing-capable chat and typing is not disabled.

Modes

Set

to one of:

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  never
  — no typing indicator, ever.
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  instant
  — start typing as soon as the model loop begins, even if the run later returns only the silent reply token.
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  thinking
  — start typing on the first reasoning delta (requires
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  reasoningLevel: "stream"
  for the run).
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  message
  — start typing on the first non-silent text delta (ignores the
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  NO_REPLY
  silent token).

Order of “how early it fires”:

→ → →

Configuration

json5
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{
  agent: {
    typingMode: "thinking",
    typingIntervalSeconds: 6,
  },
}

You can override mode or cadence per session:

json5
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{
  session: {
    typingMode: "message",
    typingIntervalSeconds: 4,
  },
}

Notes

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  message
  mode won’t show typing for silent-only replies when the whole payload is the exact silent token (for example
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  NO_REPLY
  /
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  no_reply
  , matched case-insensitively).
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  thinking
  only fires if the run streams reasoning (
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  reasoningLevel: "stream"
  ). If the model doesn’t emit reasoning deltas, typing won’t start.
• Heartbeat typing is a liveness signal for the resolved delivery target. It starts at heartbeat run start instead of following
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  message
  or
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  thinking
  stream timing. Set
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  typingMode: "never"
  to disable it.
• Heartbeats do not show typing when
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  target: "none"
  , when the target cannot be resolved, when chat delivery is disabled for the heartbeat, or when the channel does not support typing.
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  typingIntervalSeconds
  controls the refresh cadence, not the start time. The default is 6 seconds.

Related

• Presence
• Streaming and chunking